Tag: Holocaust

About once a month since we got married, we spend a shabbat in Holon with my in-laws. We are fortunate in that we get on very well, the food is delicious, and best of all, we always get doggy bags that keep us going through the rest of the week!

On Friday evening, I always accompany my father-in-law to his synagogue (on Shabbat morning they begin at 7am; I am yet to make it!). He is Yemenite, and I have always found the service fascinating. Broadly speaking, it is the same as any other service, but there are two main differences: nearly every part of the liturgy is chanted out loud in unison; the Yemenites have their own very unique pronunciation of Hebrew (which many believe is the closest pronunciation to the original Hebrew language). A non-yemenite, familiar with the prayer service, but not with the local ‘slang’, as my father-in-law likes to call it, would be a bit bemused on walking in, but once you learn the rules it is actually quite easy to follow; by now I am pretty much at home with the service and am doing my best to adapt my pronunciation accordingly!

My father-in-law has a fixed seat in the synagogue, and next to him is a space for my brother-in-law. As my brother-in-law now normally prays elsewhere, this has become my seat when I visit. On entering the synagogue last Friday, I saw a gentleman that I had not seen before in the synagogue, sitting in the seat I usually occupy. He was an elderly, pious looking man, in a long black gabardine and a small black hat; his silver payot (sidelocks) curled in the Yemenite style.

Adolf Eichmann, the architect of the Nazi Final Solution, was famously apprehended by the Mossad while hiding in Argentina, smuggled back to Israel, and put on trial in 1961. It was a seminal moment in the history of the state, when for the first time the majority of the country really began to come to terms with what had happened in the Holocaust. It was also the first time in Israel’s history that a death sentence was actually carried out (in other cases it has been ordered but cancelled on appeal).

I vaguely remembered hearing that they had selected a Yemenite to perform the execution. This was in order to avoid any hint of this being revenge, as opposed to justice. Too many of the European and even North African Jews living in Israel were affected personally by the Holocaust, but the Yemenites were not. It was remarkable to think that this diminutive man sitting behind me had been responsible for the death of this most famous criminal.

Even if I had wanted to forget about this during the service, it was not possible. The vast majority of a Yemenite liturgy is chanted aloud, in unison, and often in a loud voice. I kept hearing his voice, with a very strong Yemenite accent, sounding in my ear. I kept being reminded of him, and thinking about what he had done. Thinking about the morality and virtues (or not) of capital punishment. Thinking about Eichmann and the horrors he perpetrated. Thinking how it must have felt to carry out this sentence.

The service broke for the rabbi’s sermon. The weekly Torah portion mentioned the obligation of a man witnessing a murder to bear witness against the perpetrator. He suggested that part of this was a sort of catharsis for the witness who had seen a terrible crime, as well as the need to bring justice. He began speaking about the large amount of violence in modern media, both theatrical violence in film and TV dramas and real violence on the news or available in the latest ISIS broadcasts. He argued that by watching this violence, one is like a witness, and one needs to cleanse one’s soul somehow.

I could not help thinking about the gentleman behind me, and what he had not just witnessed, but actually done. I was not the only one; a fellow congregant began to rib him, asking him how he had cleansed himself of what he had witnessed. I felt so sorry for this poor man. Fortunately, other congregants stepped in and ordered that it came to an end. But I could still hear the old man behind me, muttering “there were three witnesses”, as if somehow the shared burden made things easier. It was heart-wrenching.

The service concluded, we stood up to leave. Our new friend was still busy praying, reading the aleinu prayer which they do not normally recite in this synagogue. He shook my hand as we left, wishing me a “Shabbat Shalom”; the hand which shook mine was no doubt the hand that ended Eichmann’s life.

It was a bizarre experience. I was filled with pity for this man, who is famed for performing this most terrible of deeds. And yet there was something about his demeanour which was just so pure; his dress, his side-locks, his extra prayers, his elderly cracking voice escaping the gaps in his teeth. I was excited to have met this man who was a part of history, and desperate to question him on it, yet aware that this was far from the time or the place. I was horrified by the thought of what had happened.

After Shabbat, with the help of Google, I learned a bit more about Shalom Nagar. It seems that he has come to terms with his past and lives a happy, uncomplicated life. If you are interested, you can read an in-depth interview here.

In Israel, it so often happens that what would appear to be an entirely normal evening ends up being extraordinary; thought-provoking; somewhat emotional. It never ceases to amaze me.

Today began in a sombre atmosphere as we visited Yad Vashem, Israel’s official museum to the Shoah (the Holocaust). As the second most visited tourist site in Israel it is a very important place for us to know well. I have visited the new museum here several times but this was my first time going through with a guide, the amount of material can be quite overwhelming and I felt that being taken through the museum with explanations of the key exhibits really added to my experience.

The site was set up in the 1950s but the present museum structure dates only from 2005. It tells the story of the Nazi persecution of the Jews which culminated in the famous ‘Final Solution’ – the mass genocide that killed 6 million. It was as always a moving experience; each time I find myself flabbergasted by the fact that human beings were capable of doing such things to each other. It is really impressive that so many of the visitors to Israel come here – it is not exactly a fun way to spend your holiday. But it is important to try to understand what happened – on each visit I learn something new – so that we can try to prevent similar events in the future.

Schindlers’ tree in the Avenue of the RIghteous of the Nations, Yad Vashem

After the museum, we visited some of the many memorials and monuments that are around the site. We began at the Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations, a collection of trees and monuments dedicated to those non-Jews who endangered themselves to try and save the lives of Jews during the Shoah. Among them are Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved thousands in Hungary, and Oscar Schindler, made famous by the Spielberg film.

Our guide explained how these individuals are researched and recognised – the committee in charge of doing so apparently recognises about 500 more people every year. Many have now passed away but their families are notified of the award.

Valley of the Communities, Yad Vashem

We visited next the Valley of the Communities, an large space which recalls all the Jewish communities which fell under Nazi control during the war, many of which were wiped out. Organised in a rough geographical order, we wondered around marvelling at the amount and variety of these places, our guide told us some of the stories of the communities from before or during the war. For the first time I was able to locate the village from which my family came in Bavaria, Gunzenhausen. Fortunately, my grandmother and her family were all able to escape Germany before war broke out.

We also made sure to visit the Children’s Memorial, dedicated to the 1.5 million children who were murdered by the Nazis. These huge numbers are simply beyond our comprehension and the memorial tries to help the visitor come to terms with the size of this destruction while at the same time reminding us of the names of the individual children whose lives were brutally cut short.

Tomb of Yitzchak & Leah Rabin, Mt Herzl

Finishing at Yad Vashem, we ascended up the hill to the Mt Herzl cemetery. Here we paid our respects to some of the greats of Israeli history – the thinkers and activists Herzl and Jabotinsky; the prime ministers and presidents, military heroes such as Hannah Senesh; the defenders of the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem in 1948; Yoni Netanyahu. Of particular interest was the relatively new memorial to the many Ethiopian Jews who died during the long walk to Sudan to be flown to Israel. Built in the style of an Ethiopian village, it is nice that these relatively recent arrivals to the country also have an important portion of the symbolic national cemetery.

Reliving the Basel Zionist Congress at the Herzl Museum

We concluded our day with a visit to the Herzl museum. It quite cleverly tells the story of the pioneer of political Zionism through films and sets, trying to transport the visitor into the atmosphere of his life. The final part of the museum challenges the visitor to continue to try and shape Israel in Herzl’s vision – a country at peace within with its different communities and social groups making up the population; at peace without with its neighbours. Still very much a work in progress, but in Herzl’s words: “if you will it, it is no dream”!